Services
*All services can be done in-office or on telehealth*
- Birth Story Processing
- Birth Preparation Session
- Postpartum Preparation Session
- Pregnancy Loss Processing
- 50-minute psychotherapy session
- 90-minute psychotherapy session
- EMDR session (in-person only)
- EMDR intensive (in-person only)
- Couples therapy
- Home visits available for local patients within 7-mile radius
Perinatal Psychotherapy
Perinatal psychotherapy refers to a type of therapy designed to support women who are experiencing mental health difficulties during the conception, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. These services are tailored to address the unique emotional and psychological needs of mothers and aim to promote their well-being and the healthy development of their children.
Did you know…
1 out of 5 moms and 1 out of 10 of dads suffer from postpartum mental health challenges. Given how common postpartum mood and anxiety disorders are, Coast OBGYN decided it was important to have in-house mental health support available for our patients and their families. Aside from challenges that come with conceiving, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, there are a wide array of life cycle and environmental factors that make adjustment difficult.
Some common issues that may be addressed in perinatal psychotherapy include:
- Postpartum depression: a type of depression that can occur after giving birth, characterized by feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and hopelessness.
- Postpartum anxiety: a condition that can cause excessive worry, fear, and nervousness.
- Adjustment to motherhood: counseling may help new mothers adjust to the changes and challenges of motherhood, such as changes in identity, lifestyle, body image, and relationships.
- Trauma: counseling may help women who have experienced traumatic events, such as birth trauma or miscarriage.
- Relationship difficulties: counseling may address relationship issues with a partner or family members.
Perinatal psychotherapy services may also include education and support on topics such as infant development, breastfeeding, and parenting strategies.
Overall, these counseling services aim to support women in achieving optimal mental health during pregnancy and the postpartum period. By addressing mental health concerns early on, women can improve their own well-being and the well-being of their children.
Couples Counseling
Couples therapy focuses on improving the relationship between two people who are in a romantic partnership. It is designed to help couples resolve conflicts, communicate effectively, and strengthen their emotional connection. During sessions, the therapist helps the couple identify their relationship issues and develop strategies to address them. This can involve exploring each partner’s perspectives, improving communication skills, and working to rebuild trust and intimacy.
Couples therapy can be effective for a wide range of issues, including conflicts over finances, parenting, and sexual intimacy, as well as more serious concerns such as infidelity and addiction. It is often used as a way to prevent the dissolution of a relationship or as a tool for improving the overall quality of a couple’s relationship.
EMDR
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy approach designed to help individuals overcome the effects of trauma and other distressing life experiences. It involves a series of structured sessions with a trained therapist, during which the individual recalls traumatic memories while simultaneously utilizing bilateral stimulation to assist the brain in desensitization and reprocessing.
The goal of EMDR is to help individuals process and integrate traumatic memories in a more adaptive way, reducing the intensity of negative emotions and beliefs associated with the experience. The process is thought to work by facilitating the brain’s natural ability to process and integrate information, allowing traumatic memories to be reprocessed and integrated into a more adaptive memory network.
EMDR has been found to be effective for a variety of conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and phobias.
Family members can create conflict, and family therapy/psychotherapy works to address and improve those interactions through various means of communication and treatment. Major life transitions, mental health conditions, and stressful events can strain families. When treating the concerns of families, our therapists address the surrounding hardships, such as financial troubles, chronic illnesses, and past traumatic incidents.
What Causes Family Conflict?
Several factors can influence family conflict. Changes in a family situation can leave a long-lasting impact on those within that family circle, and for therapists, it is about addressing those concerns first to diagnose the problems present.
Out of the variety of problems that can occur, the therapist finds the most common within families:
- Birth of a new baby
- Growing stages of children
- Divorces/separations
- Moving to a new house/country
- Long-distance traveling to work
- Changes in finances
However, families in their development can occur due to political views, religious beliefs, social expectations, and other stressful factors. Finances have their form of influence, as they can determine nutrition, education, and housing for families and create more elements for family conflict. When the basic living requirements aren’t able to be met, struggles can form. Other factors have more chaotic effects, such as chronic illnesses, death of a family member, or the introduction to illicit drugs and alcohol.
Mental Illness and Family Conflict
Underneath all of these external factors, mental illness has an enormous impact on families when left unaddressed. When the issues lying within the mind are left unaddressed, either by past trauma or regretful memories, they can spread into the present and cause family conflict. Estrangement is a typical result of these issues, as families that have these forms of harmful dynamics create a lack of security and trauma. Trauma, such as sexual assault, abuse, and neglect, has huge psychological impacts on families. Those toxic environments, if left unaddressed and intervened, can create more severe symptoms of mental illness and lead to coping mechanisms such as substance abuse.
Common Questions About Family Therapy
Do all members of my family need to be present for treatment? – Family therapy does not enforce members to commit to the procedure, and family therapy focuses on working with different individuals and dynamics to address the issues at hand.
Who qualifies to treat families with treatment? – Family therapists and social workers receive formal training to treat families with issues and other mental health professionals.
Is it okay to be scared of family therapy? – Family therapy can be scary and uncomfortable, and this is a healthy experience. It can be hard to talk about our problems, but we can say that the outcomes are worth it as long as everyone wishes to work towards the same goals.
How Family Therapy Can Improve Relationships
Our practice encourages listening, active communication, and understanding of the basic core of healing from trauma and conflict. We are framing the perspective on relationships rather than the person is what makes family therapy work. Its focus is to address these factors of conflict head-on and reduce the amount of conflict present. Call us today to learn about our family therapy services.